It’s not the kind of trophy you would drink champagne out of - it’s a mounted athletic cup - but the winning INAC Attack was happy to hoist it.
Competing against five other federal government teams in the United Way BBQ and Ball Hockey Tournament Extravaganza, INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) took the championship with a 1-0 win over the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in the finals at the broomball arena in Takhini on Thursday.
Getting the game winner with two minutes left to play was Attack captain Clayton Dyck.
“I got an excellent pass in front and I was in the open, and I just swiped at it and beat the goalie by about a foot and a half,” said Dyck, who was assisted by Devon Yacura.
“(Yacura) is probably our best player. And our goalie, Charles (McQueen) - big improvement from last year.”
McQueen didn’t just help keep the Attack up, but was practically flawless on the score sheets (had there been score sheets) with five shutouts in a row.
The Attack finished in second-last place last year, but only suffered one loss in this year’s tournament, losing to DFO 2-0 in the round-robin section of the tournament.
“We have a much better team this year - and RCMP aren’t here,” said Dyck.
The RCMP team, who won the tournament last year, withdrew from the tournament at the last minute for reasons that were not explained.
“The RCMP was too scared this year because they heard about INAC Attack,” said an unnamed Attack player.
In the battle for third, the Canadian Forces downed Environment Canada 4-3 in overtime. Scoring the game winner was Kenji Tatsumi, just 30 seconds into the extra period.
In what was probably the most dramatic game of the tournament, Parks Canada avoided last place with a shootout win over the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor). Going into extra shooters, Parks’ Kyle Carlson beat CanNor goalie Dylan Morgan for fifth place.
Organizers are hoping to expand the tournament next year with eight teams instead of six.
“It’s a good possibility,” said tournament organizer Patrick Jackson. “It’s been run successfully for the last three years, so we’d add another cross-section (on the rink) and run three games at once. That way we can go eight, maybe even nine teams.”
The extra team would increase the money of the fundraising tournament significantly because entry fees are the event’s main source of proceeds.
“That’s where we get the bulk of the money,” said Jackson.
“It’s fun, fair, competitive play, and it’s a good chance for people to come out and show their support for the United Way and have some fun with coworkers.”
This year’s tournament raised $1,305.72, up from about $700 last year.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com